The Good Old Days
by Bear and Turtle
Summary: Between the events in MOA and AC2 there was a time where all Ravens were either Corporate employees or rogues...


The Good Old Days

The Good Old Days   
By   
Bear and Turtle

Armored Core is property of Agetec and Squaresoft. Please don't sue me, I want to go to college one day. Don't use this story without permission, either. 

Author's Notes: This story first appeared at gamefaqs.com, using the login instantRiot. Welles is an original character, a non-plus who pilots a quad-legged AC. 

And now, on with the show!   
  


Welles was working on his AC Quadruple, thinking of the good old days of being a mercenary when the voice of the Progtech dispatcher brought him back to reality. 

"Raven!" 

Welles had a brief vision of lining up all of Progtech's businessmen and seeing how many a blast of his IR-24 would go through. "What do you want?" he snapped, oblivious to the fact that this suit was his employer. 

Unfazed, the bean-counter said, "There's a mission. A rogue Raven has attacked several of our facilities. It's normally not worth the expense of destroying rogues, but this one's actions cannot be tolerated. In this mission separate forces will corner the rogue, and your task is to destroy him." 

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Sitting within his AC, which in turn sat within a cargo plane en route to the mission site, Welles wondered how the members of the Ravens' Nest had fallen from grace. Those who were once independent mercenaries had either become employees of the Corporations or got hunted down like dogs. 

For some reason the Nest just broke down. Some said that it had run out of funds, but that was ridiculous; The Nest had simply been a service for connecting Ravens to missions. 

What was known was that R had disappeared around the same time that Nine-Ball chickened out and fled the Arena. Others had a more ridiculous idea than the last: R left in disgust because one Raven who managed to go through the ranks very fast terrified the hell out of the greatest Raven ever. 

Welles couldn't remember that guy's name, but he could remember him fondly. When the Corporations had started hiring Ravens to become company men, that guy was the first to officially go rogue. He led several attacks on Progtech, and when he was finally shot down he took three company men with him. 

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Welles got ready for battle, first thinking of what setup the rogue would be using. Being hated by the Corporations, rogues couldn't simply pop up and buy ammunition, so most used exclusively energy weapons. They had trouble getting repairs for the same reason, so many piloted lightweight cores that could dodge much of an enemy's firepower. 

Welles had already played with his AC so that its energy shields were maxed out, and he knew two of his weapons were especially devastating to light cores, so he felt that this rogue would be easy prey. His only concern would be that of a hunter when closing in on a cornered animal. 

Welles checked his equipment. His laser cannon was fresh off the assembly line and fully charged. Every solenoid within his linear gun magnetized to within a microsecond of the correct time. His machine gun was locked and loaded. His laserblade, modified to fire a burst of energy at an enemy, was ready to spring. 

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The cargo plane dropped Quadruple outside of the warehouse where the rogue had been lured and trapped, and what Welles first saw was the burning remains of an MT. Looking around, he saw four other piles of wreckage. Swiftly sliding forward on his four legs, he came to the entrance of the warehouse, with three MTs standing guard. One looked as though it had taken a terrible beating. 

Welles hailed them on the radio, "What weapons did he use out here?" If the rogue had a Karasawa or PPK, Welles would have to exercise more caution. 

Over the radio he heard a slightly shaky voice say, "A blade, sir. He never fired a single shot. And we couldn't get a visual confirmation of what guns he was carrying." 

"Yes, well it isn't the first time I've gone into a mission with so little data," said Welles as he got into the elevator. A switch was tripped and the elevator took him down to the underground warehouse where the rogue must be boosting around like a mad bee in a jar. 

When the elevator deposited Welles in the warehouse, the rogue wasn't on his radar, and due to the warehouse being extremely dark, he couldn't get a visual fix on the rogue either. Then he saw a bright green flash, and the computer projection of his armor points went _down_. He had lost close to 1000 points. 

Welles immediately began the evasive maneuvering all Ravens learn quickly or perish trying. In the weak light he saw the rogue, and could make out an energy sniper rifle. 

"So you're a company man," he heard over the radio. "And you're a rogue," he responded. Welles drew back his left arm and fired a blast from his Progtech laserblade, followed by a salvo from his linear gun. 

The rogue dodged all with ease, and said "let me show you how it's done." He swung his own blade around, and a bright blue jet of energy sprayed from it. He then brought around his left back weapon-despite the poor lighting it was obviously the 01-QL-and fired a salvo of his own. Welles dodged the energy wave but was hammered by two bursts from the plasma cannon. He was surprised when he heard a roaring explosion behind him caused by the wave. 

"Why are we fighting?" asked the rogue as Welles activated his cannon and grabbed the barrel with his AC's left hand. "I've got a job," he said as the rogue took a well-placed shot in the chest. 

"Ah, you pathetic company men lament working for the Corporations, yet you work without fail. You weep over the loss of the Nest, yet you do nothing to restore it. And you try to destroy us rogues, who don't sink into self-pity as you do." 

"What?" said Welles. 

The rogue stood still, his weapons turned off. Welles chose not to take this opportunity to pepper him with automatic fire. 

"Progtech has done the most to destroy the old standard of the independent Raven. That is why my missions are to attack Progtech. However, I have another mission: to rebuild the Nest. I already have two other members of the new Nest. In my missions I was hoping a company man would be sent to kill me. I would have an opportunity to convert him, and if I couldn't, I am very confident in my skills as a Raven." 

"You seriously believe you can recreate the Nest?" asked Welles, disbelieving. 

"If you want proof, one of the two others is coming as we speak as my backup." 

Suddenly the radio cackled, the voice it was carrying distorted by the earth above. "Raven! There's another coming straight for us. Ahhhhhhhh!" 

"Raven, we need assistance now! Raven! Raven!" 

Whatever else the MT pilot said was cut off as Welles instructed the computer to ignore messages on that frequency. 

"Well," he said with a chuckle, "a Nest of three pilots, and if I join it'll be four. Doesn't seem like much, but you'll kill me if I refuse, right?" 

"When other pilots, both rogues and company men, hear of us, they'll join in as well. It will be a slippery slope, with the Corporations' control on us sliding to what it was in our days of glory." 

"You make it seem shameful not to join. Hey, I've got an idea. I can call Progtech and tell them I've fragged you. Then when the cleanup crew arrives, we can snipe them. How does it sound?" 

Welles had suffered greatly under Progtech over the years. The piles of papers he had to sign when he needed a new part. The criticism whenever his solid ammunition needed replenishing or he needed repairs to his armor. And now he could finally show his appreciation. 

"That's some way of tendering your resignation. Let's go for it."   
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